Arlington Church Going Green

For Immediate Release
March 8, 2019

ARLINGTON, Va. – Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Arlington has just installed solar panels on three of its buildings: the church, the rectory and the hall, and they’re holding a talk Saturday, March 9, to encourage others to bring renewable energy into their homes or congregations.

Details

Where:         Our Lady Queen of Peace, 2700 19th Street South, Arlington

When:           Saturday, March 9, 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Father Timothy Hickey, pastor of Our Lady Queen of Peace, says going green is in response to Pope Francis’ encyclical, Care for our Common Home, and his personal interest in ecology and the integrity of creation.   “When Care for our Common Home was published, we sponsored several events reflecting on the encyclical, and as we were doing renovations on our building that played into it,” he said.

Already, some of the carpet in the Father Ray Hall parish center is made of 99% recycled drink bottles, and when it came time to paint the building, the parish used no-VOC paint. In addition, Father says they engineered a special roof to raise the insulation value and replaced all single-pane windows to low-E glass double-pane glass windows that are tinted to keep out the heat in the summer. The parish has also discontinued the use of paper and plastic products and replaced them with metal silverware and sustainable bamboo plates for parish breakfasts, spaghetti dinners, etc. “We don’t use disposable coffee cups anymore, and we’ve banned water bottles from campus,” he said.